Re-purposing Egg Cartons And Enjoying Some Messy Fun

 

 

This week, I wanted to get on with planting some more vegetable seeds as time is slowly but surely ticking away (how is it May already?!).  I have a huge stack of egg cartons sat on a shelf in the kitchen and knew these would make perfect little seeding trays.  I separated the lid from the bottom, pierced holes into the bottom of each little egg section for drainage and then set that back into the lid.  We took our tuff spot outside along with the egg cartons, compost and some spoons etc and we enjoyed some fun in the sun.  It was just what was needed after an extremely hard morning.

 

 

 

 

 

filling the carton with compost

it’s serious work

abandoning the spoon in favour of using her hands

I wonder what will happen if I just tip this carton upside down

hopefully lots of lovely veg will come from this

As always, click on the link button at the top and check out what other fun children have been having this week.

The Vegetable Garden So Far…

 

 

All our seeds arrived last week, so we spent Saturday and Sunday afternoon down in the vegetable garden, clearing, digging and planting.  I only got to plant potatoes and they took up two beds on their own…..I think I may have gone slightly overboard on potatoes!!!!  Miss E really enjoyed getting stuck in to all the dirt and mess.  She helped to plant the potatoes by taking them and firing them into the trench. 🙂  This week in the evenings we spent a few hours down there as well with Miss E joining us via her monitor.  We’ve managed to plant some carrots and cabbage and Mr P dug out some more plots, but were hindered from doing too much due to the really strong winds we have been having here as of late.  I’ve also planted some courgettes and corn inside using our cardboard egg cartons as it suggested they be started off inside in warmer climates and then get transferred outside.  Maybe we will get some time this weekend to plant more, but these are a few snapshots of how it’s been going.

lots of lovely seeds awaiting planting                           

investigating her own little dirt garden while we sort the veg plots

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enough of my little garden, what are you up to over here?                                                 

 

a new place to wash hands it would seem

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

clearing more ground

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

helping with the planting                

 

ensuring our newly planted potatoes are well watered

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If anyone has tips for humane and ecofriendly ways of keeping pests stuch as slugs etc off our veg, I would be most appreciative 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

Reconnecting With Our Food

When we bought our house complete with large garden, we had always dreamed of growing our own veg and digging out some plots.  The first year we were here, I made a start and then took a teaching post then became very ill, so it came to a standstill. We got some potatoes and nice courgettes and a few chillis, but that was about it.  Then I was pregnant and super ill. Last year, we fenced off a section at the bottom of the garden where we want to grow the veg and that was all that got done.  We really want to get a move on with it this year.  So my husband’s been hard at work, clearing out bushes and trees and digging out the plots. I’ve ordered potato seeds from Rocket Gardens and the rest of our seed from Real Seeds.  So this time there’s no turning back!!  Hopefully, we will have lots of lovely vegetables to eat in a few months time and our daughter will be able to grow up understanding how food grows and the right conditions that it needs to grow before it gets to the point of landing on our plates at the table.  Exciting times ahead!  Have you ever grown your own vegetables?  Any hints and tips for getting started?

Potting Sunflowers

For her birthday, one of Miss E’s little friends got her a Suttons grow your own sunflowers set (Not entirely sure that was the correct name!).  We planted the sunflower seeds in the pot and followed the instructions.  Eleven grew, and, as happens with sunflowers, very quickly needed new homes.  My husband and I aren’t very good at following through with tasks like repotting plants and often things die. And, for a while, it looked like these sunflwoers might be facing the same fate.  I was determined they wouldn’t and finally we remembered to get compost and pots.

 

I could have done the task while Miss E was having a nap, and it would have been quicker and cleaner, but they are her sunflowers, and I wanted her to have the experience and start learning about plants and caring for them.

checking out the flower pots

 

Miss E took this taskvery seriously indeed.  She is currently developing her skills of transferring objects from one container to another, and so this gave her the opportunity to transfer to her heart’s content.  She was very serious and engrossed throughout apart from when we were patting the compost down around the sunflowers after placing them in their homes.  Then sh ewould break out into giggles and pat down the soil with a “bat, bat, bat!”

 

 

Miss E did need a change of clothes at the end of us as the compost clung to her and my kitchen floor needed sweeping, but the sunflowers got repotted, and we had a lovely time together.